Final Food Paper Draft

In the first few pages of his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan makes the point that America, while being overly concerned with health and the kinds of food we eat, is ultimately less healthy than countries like italy or france because of that. Pollan describes how the blend of cultures in America is a leading reason for the crisis we face when it comes to deciding on a "food culture". I would make the argument that this is in itself a culture of variety, that we as Americans have such a plethora of foods from which to choose that we make our own personal food cultures. Not to mention that food in America also has its own industrial culture - ie burgers, fries, and sodas. As for our seeming gullibility for fad diets and expert advice, I would say that this is just another example of sampling what American food cultures have to offer to consumer. Of course, there is also the fact that humans are little more than two-legged sheep, flocking as a herd to wherever the figurative 'man' leads them. Experts prey on the sense of insecurity that plagues the little sheepies by telling them that they are living an unholy abomination of a lifestyle, that if they only decide to exactly as their told, they can improve from their hopeless situation.
Reading through with a more in-depth approach I found that this book focused largely on an examination at the industrial farm. Specifically focused on the farmer George Naylor, we see that this is your stereotypical American farm, having been handed down through generations of Naylor men. However, we see the impacts of the industrialization of food on this farm, for though the farm yields acres of corn, and will feed approximately 129 Americans alone, Naylor himself will not be initially part of that figure. The corn is "basically inedible" describes Pollan, citing that the corn that is grown on the farm must first be processed and tried to be able to feed humans. That might have been the most interesting part of the chapter- the fact that a farmer's crops simply cannot feed him without the stains of industry first. Another piece of this chapter I found interesting was the sheer amount of corn gathered from a single acre of corn per harvest. Pollan tells us that a single acre of this farm will yield to slightly more than ten thousand pounds of corn. 1.8 million pounds for the whole field. To me that sounds like enough to feed a few towns, not the 129 Pollan had approximated earlier. This leaves me with the question of how many pounds of kernels equates to a single person, so that they get a figure like that.
Now, after reading some of Omnivore’s dilemma as well as seeing videos like the Meatrix and Cows With Guns, I have developed a few ideas about industrial foods. I saw some atrocities committed to animals in the documentary “Our Daily Bread” by workers who seemed emotionless and indifferent and I also saw in the Meatrix some colorful examples of how industrial farms mistreat their animals. This gets coupled with my growing distaste for beef and meat to bring about a desire for change in my diet. I have decided to gradually approach vegetarianism, by initially eliminating beef foods, then moving on to chicken, fish, etc. I assume that by eating simpler foods like salads and fruits, I can be healthier because I’m not absorbing the infected bits of meat that comes from mistreated farm animals. By eating and living a vegetarian lifestyle, you will not only be making yourself healthier, but you will be helping to heal the world. Some facts I found on vegetarian and vegan living show that plants produce 10 times more protein per acre than animals do, and that the use of unused plant protein would help decrease the human protein deficit by upwards of 90%.
I also understand that many